SCRIPTURE: A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus…He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him. Luke 19:2-4 NIV
THOUGHT: The cardinal out back yesterday morning caught my attention for two reasons. First, he seemed to have some gray feathers. That’s odd, and I don’t remember ever seeing that on a bird before (unless it’s gray to start with, hello). Secondly, he sat in a branch directly in front of me, about 6 or 7 feet away, so I got a good, long look at him. That’s a gift. Then he made his way up the branch, in and out of view behind leafy cover. One hop or scoot at a time, up at least 30 feet, then in a flash of red, flew down and started over again, somewhere out of sight.
That cardinal is a little like me. I say “a little,” because I certainly have some gray feathers, and in a metaphoric manner, I appreciate the cover of green when the rest of my feathers make me vulnerable.
But although I’ve had flying dreams since I was little (see my book, Walking When You’d Rather Fly), I just can’t make them come true. What the cardinal this morning said to me is that even though I can’t fly, by God’s grace I can hop and scoot up the branches I can reach. If I’m willing to do the work, I can get a bigger and higher view like Zacchaeus did. And when Jesus sees me and invites me to dine with him, I can accept the invitation (despite the crowd who thinks it unseemly). Then I can start the climb again, refreshed.
Zacchaeus just wanted to “see who Jesus was,” but Jesus wanted to see Zacchaeus even more.
PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for loving me like you loved Zacchaeus. You knew his name despite never being introduced. You wanted to stay at his house and befriend him, even though he was despised by the crowd. So, covered by grace, he came down from his perch a changed man. A small red bird who just wanted a glimpse, met his maker.
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I have a remarkable number of cardinals, adult & juvenile, coming to eat under the tree outside my window this year. The males all have some black/gray areas on their sides.
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Hello Cyn, interesting. I’ve been noticing it now that I’m aware of it. Have you studied how old they live to be? Does the gray have anything to do with age? And thank you for being such a loyal reader!
Blessings,
Amy
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Hi Amy, i do enjoy your posts on your blog. Please excuse the late reply,, had a computer problem or 2. Cardinals are one of my favorite birds. They live 3 ro 4 years in the wild.. Interesting to me was that early this spring 5 males came to eat the seed i put out. I figured they were young adults who had wintered together in their nest for the winter. Since cardinals are territorial my thought was that soon they’d be fighting each other for nesting places. Later i saw 2 couples at different times with their young. The young ones have the same coloring on their sides, it looks gray to me but Peterson’s guide says it’s brown.
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